Re: Star Wars

I'm seeing this movie 10 hours from now.

Now, because some things has happened here at work my mind has been really preoccupied for the last couple of days. Which, to a certain extent, helped divert my mind away from the excitement of waiting for the opening of this movie. And that is a good thing because I wanna see this movie as unbiased as possible. So I don't wanna walk in there over-hyped. And now it's here and I'm excited. We'll see how it goes.

Re: Star Wars

In what is believed to be the biggest movie package sold to ad-supported TV networks, Turner has closed a domestic licensing deal with The Walt Disney Studios for the linear basic cable and companion ad-supported on-demand rights to 10 Star Wars movies — last year’s Star Wars: The Force Awakens, this year’s standalone Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the next three yet-to-be-released movies in the franchise as well as five of the six previous Star Wars films. Additionally, Turner has secured the only Star Wars movie whose rights are not controlled by Lucasfilm/Disney, the original Star Wars: A New Hope, via a separate arrangement with 20th Century Fox, becoming the only basic cable company holding rights to all 11 titles in the collection.

Turner and Walt Disney Studios are not commenting but sources estimate that the 10-title package is in the neighborhood of $200 million. Its sale comes after a highly atypical, year-long on-and-off process. Disney first sent out feelers that it was going to shop The Force Awakens (and other Star Wars movies) a year ago, ahead of the movie’s December premiere. That ultimately didn’t happen, and the movie was officially taken out at NATPE in January. But even after that, the Star Wars package was on the market, then off, then on again, with the selling paused a number of times. Still, the buyers came out in full force. There virtually was no basic cable network that did not bid for the movies but Turner was the most aggressive from the get-go, blowing the others out of the outer.

Using Star Wars as leverage, I hear the Disney package also includes other — mostly underperforming movies, something that is common practice when highly sought after titles are in play. I hear that includes recent releases Alice Through the Looking Glass and Pete’s Dragon. Another aspect of the deal is that it only includes ad-supported on-demand rights, not commercial-free SVOD rights which are part of Disney’s deals with Starz (for The Force Awakens) and Starz’s successor Netfix for the next Star Wars films. It remains to be seen if viewers, who are used to streaming movies with no ads, will embrace watching Star Wars with commercials on demand.

Turner will kick off the Star Wars run with a six-night marathon on TNT featuring the first six movies which starts September 20. The films will also air in December, in conjunction with Disney’s theatrical release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Star Wars: The Force Awakens will make its TNT debut in early 2018, followed in 2019 by this year’s Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.

“The Star Wars movies and characters are beloved across generations, captivating audiences and breaking box office records around the globe for nearly four decades,” said Deborah K. Bradley, EVP of networks optimization, content strategy and commercialization for Turner. “Through this deal, TNT and TBS will be the exclusive basic cable home of one of the most iconic, enduring and valuable movie franchises of all time, giving viewers the chance to watch this amazing collection from the very beginning.”

This is the second big package of Disney-released movies for TNT, which in 2014 closed a deal with Disney-owned Marvel Entertainment for five movies, including Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron and Marvel’s Captain America 3.

Re: Star Wars

As for the future of the Star Wars franchise, Iger revealed that he met with Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy yesterday and “mapped out” the ‘Star Wars’ plans that we have ’til 2020.”

“We have movies in development for ‘Star Wars’ ’til then, and we started talking about what we’re going to do in 2021 and beyond. So, she’s not just making a ‘Star Wars’ movie, she’s making a ‘Star Wars’ universe, of sorts.”

"We don't need money," he said. "We're in the business of taking big risks ... outside money is of absolutely no interest to us."

Regarding the latter, he said the film studio recently heard a pitch from the director of a ninth Star Wars film due in 2019 and a writer is developing another for 2020.

Iger called Rogue One: A Star Wars Story "an experiment, of sorts," given it is a stand-alone film and not part of the Luke Skywalker saga. "This is a moment in time, and we've loved what we've seen," he said. Rogue One, set to open Dec. 16, went through extensive reshoots over the summer and recently replaced its musical composer.

The global box-office average of each of the 29 films Disney made since its acquisitions of Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm is "a hair under $800 million," said Iger. "We figured out how to improve the odds of making good films."

Re: Star Wars

Originally Posted by frolunda71

The Force went dark yesterday when Carrie Fisher at the age of 60 left us...
She had completed her work on Episode VIII, but she was planned to be in Episode IX as well, and now it remains to be seen what they will do with those plans.http://variety.com/2016/film/news/ca...-8-1201948826/

Re: Star Wars

When the news broke the other day that Lucasfilm had fired the directing team of Phil Lord and Chris Miller off its Han Solo spinoff flick, a few things came to mind. First and foremost, there was the shock of a major project like this making such an enormous move, especially, ahem, five months into shooting.

After that, I took a moment to see what people were saying, and it came out that Lucasfilm chief Kathleen Kennedy wasn’t happy with the style and tone of the film that Lord and Miller were making, which led me to the second reaction, which was, “Well, jeez, who did she think she was hiring?” I mean, these are the guys behind Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, 21 Jump Street and its sequel, 22 Jump Street, and The LEGO Movie.

In other words, while the pair is immensely talented, these guys are not exactly Merchant and Ivory.

But after pondering that for a short spell, something else popped into my head, as I considered the history of Lucasfilm projects and one or two external incidents that directly relate to this particular cinematic universe. It was a dark thought, a sinister one, that I turned around a bit before I finally allowed myself to verbalize it, at which point I realized that, in even asking the question, I already had my answer.

Does Lucasfilm have itself a Director Problem?

After having given Warner Bros. so much guff for its issues with directors on the DC Comics movies, it would be unfair not to come to a similar conclusion here, simply because this is what the evidence suggests.

Most of the people reading this will be aware of the stürm und drang that surrounded last year’s Lucasfilm production of Rogue One, which essentially replaced director Gareth Edwards with Old Pro Tony Gilroy, as the experienced Gilroy came in with massive rewrites and directed large reshoots which, apparently (depending on who is talking) reshaped a good portion of the movie. That, in and of itself, should have been something of a red flag, but now this happens, and the central issue is inescapable.

And we haven’t even gotten into the catastrophe that is The Book of Henry, which is basically one of the worst reviewed films of the year, is going to be a major flop, and is a pretty large setback to its director, Colin Trevorrow. This is only important, mind you, because he is the man charged with writing and directing Episode IX of the Star Wars saga, due in theaters Memorial Day Weekend, 2019.

Apparently, the big difference between Lord and Miller and Edwards is that, when confronted with the idea of bringing in outside help to reshape things and oversee reshoots, Edwards said, “Sure, okay,” while Lord and Miller were not as eager to play along. This did not sit well with Kennedy, who has a very tight hold on all things Star Wars-related, and so she pulled the trigger on them, to the great and utter shock of Lord and Miller, who figured, naturally, that things would work themselves out.

There are a bunch of interesting factors here, not least of which is Kennedy’s desire to bring in hot, young, up-and-coming filmmakers, then refusing to allow them to do the things that drew her attention in the first place. For instance, with Lord and Miller, their style is much more loose and improvisational than what Kennedy is used to, as well as writer — and long time stalwart of the Lucasfilm Universe — Lawrence Kasdan, whose attitude is “You shoot the words that are on the page and don’t make them up as you go.” It seems he was at odds with Lord and Miller right from the start, so when they rejected out of hand the notion of dealing with someone else to come in and “help” them, it was time to let them go.

No matter, by the way, that some folks in the know were admirers of what the pair was doing, even while those same folks admitted it wasn’t a conventional Star Wars film, which was Kennedy’s whole point. Of course, others have said they were overmatched, out of their depth, and should never have been hired in the first place, so I think the only thing on which we can agree here is that no one is agreeing on anything.

Either way, the two just weren’t a good fit, whereas Rian Johnson, currently in post-production on December’s The Last Jedi, understands the Universe perfectly and, word has it, has Kennedy and her team very happy with his cut of the film. Which means that, if you liked The Force Awakens and Rogue One, you’re going to love Jedi.

Trevorrow is another issue, in that, while the Book of Henry fiasco might make him more pliable for Kennedy, the legitimate question has to be asked about whether or not he is up to the task. While I quite like his first film, Safety Not Guaranteed, I can’t say the same about his second, Jurassic World, which might have made a ton of money (and got a lot of good reviews I never quite understood), but just isn’t a good movie. Don’t get me wrong, I’m rooting for him, but this has to be of some concern to those in charge.

There’s also an important fact here that can’t be ignored: none of this is new. Lucasfilm has always had a director problem. George Lucas directed four of the first six, and while the first one is great, it’s also, in hindsight, badly flawed, and the three prequels are awful. When he brought in his film school professor, and old pro helmer, Irvin Kershner to direct The Empire Strikes Back, he let Kershner run the show without any real supervision, then was furious when the film didn’t really turn out the way he envisioned, even though it is by far the best film of the series.

It’s for that reason, in fact, that journeyman Richard Marquand was hired to helm Return of the Jedi, so that Lucas could control every aspect of the production and thus not have to deal with his personal vision being corrupted, as it had been with Kershner. There are tons of stories out there of how ineffectual Marquand was on set, as if he was nothing more than a proxy for the boss. Which, essentially, he was.

Which is sort of where we are now. It has become exceedingly clear that anyone signing up for one of these gigs in the future will have to be well aware what they’re in for, and then make the decision about whether or not being a sort of puppet for his or her Lucasfilm Overlords is how they want to spend a couple years of their career. Yes, it’s an insane opportunity to make a Star Wars film, but there are going to be a fair number of auteurs who will pass on the offer, simply because, while they might want to play with someone else’s toys, they won’t want to be instructed by said toy owner exactly how they’re allowed to play with them.

Yesterday, Ron Howard stepped into the director’s chair, a seasoned pro whose best films are in the rearview mirror, but who will almost certainly come in and do a professional job of fulfilling Kennedy’s vision, in a way that first Edwards, and then Lord and Miller, weren’t.

Because let’s face it — at this point, what has become obvious is that the vision to be fulfilled, from here on out, is Kennedy’s, and woe be to any director who thinks differently.

Re: Star Wars

Oscar-nominated filmmaker Stephen Daldry is in early talks for the film, which would center on the Jedi Master who has been played by both Alec Guinness and Ewan McGregor.

Stephen Daldry is Star Wars’ new hope.

The Oscar-nominated director behind Billy Elliot and The Hours is in early talks to direct a Star Wars standalone movie centering on Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Sources say talks are at the earliest of stages and that the project has no script. If a deal makes, Daldry would oversee the development and writing with Lucasfilm brass. It's not known at this stage if Ewan McGregor will reprise his role.

The Obi-Wan Kenobi standalone is one of several projects being developed by Lucasfilm and Disney that fall outside the trilogies telling the saga of the Skywalker family. A Han Solo movie is now in the final stages of shooting under new director Ron Howard and Lucasfilm is also looking at movies featuring Yoda and bounty hunter Bob Fett, among others.

In the original Star Wars trilogy, Kenobi was at first a desert-dwelling and war-weary hermit who later proved to be a wise and powerful warrior, brandishing a light saber. He was briefly a mentor to a young Luke before being cut down by Darth Vader, his former pupil. Alec Guinness played Kenobi, garnering him an Oscar nomination to boot.

The character got star treatment in the George Lucas-directed prequels which told the origin of Vader and his betrayal of Kenobi and the Jedis. McGregor has said he would be open to playing the character again. Sources stress, however, that since there is no script, no actor is attached.

Daldry hails from the theater world and made his feature debut with Billy Elliot, which netted him his first directing Oscar nomination. He followed that up with searing dramas The Hours and The Reader, which also netted him directing nominations.

He most recently directed episodes of Netflix’s period drama The Crown, which put him into play in this Emmy season.

Re: Star Wars

Vulture September 8, 2017:Colin Trevorrow’s Firing From Star Wars Is Another Reminder That No Director Will Ever Be Bigger Than the Franchise

Originally Posted by Chris Lee

Earlier this week, a disturbance in the Force triggered paroxysms of anguish and confusion across the galaxy. That is to say, since the Tuesday announcement of Colin Trevorrow’s firing as director of Star Wars: Episode IX (with Lucasfilm reaching the conclusion that his and the company’s “visions for the project differ”), Hollywood’s chattering class has been trying to figure out: How did this bona fide blockbuster filmmaker come to be laid so low?

Conspiracy Theory A maintains that The Book of Henry — Trevorrow’s critically mauled, commercially stillborn art-house passion project — which arrived as the June follow-up to his $1.6-billion-grossing sophomore co-writing/directorial effort Jurassic World — may have given Lucasfilm cold feet. Star Wars remains, after 40 years, eight films, and a combined $7.5 billion at the box office, arguably moviedom’s most valuable intellectual property. And Henry’s craptacular reception exposed glaring liabilities in the director’s ability to make the jump to lightspeed, as the thinking goes.

But to hear speculation from a ranking Hollywood movie insider with direct knowledge of the productions on both The Book of Henry and Jurassic World (and who requested anonymity out of concern for sensitive ongoing business relationships), Trevorrow’s firing may have come more directly as a consequence of being “difficult.”

“During the making of Jurassic World, he focused a great deal of his creative energies on asserting his opinion,” the executive explains. “But because he had been personally hired by Spielberg, nobody could say, ‘You’re fired.’ Once that film went through the roof and he chose to do Henry, [Trevorrow] was unbearable. He had an egotistical point of view— and he was always asserting that.”

Then, during preproduction on Episode IX, Trevorrow’s relationship with Lucasfilm top brass became reportedly “unmanageable” over the course of “repeated stabs at multiple drafts” of the script.

“When the reviews for Book of Henry came out, there was immediately conjecture that Kathy was going to dump him because they weren’t thrilled with working with him anyway,” the executive continues. “He’s a difficult guy. He’s really, really, really confident. Let’s call it that.”

Kathy, of course, is eight-time Academy Award–nominated Lucasfilm president/Star Wars brand manager Kathleen Kennedy, who found herself beneath the red-hot scrutiny of Movie Twitter in June after firing co-directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller from the Han Solo spinoff prequel. And in terms of that surfeit of self-belief, Trevorrow admitted to as much in an interview with Esquire in 2015. “Directors require a level of confidence that can border on the delusional,” Trevorrow said. “You have to push it right up to the edge of arrogance, but never cross the line.”

Which really would be nothing new in an industry where gigantic egos are as common as Tesla Xs, and directors convinced of their own Kubrickian greatness come a dime a dozen. But by the point of his supernova success with Jurassic World, it’s worth noting Trevorrow had become inextricably linked to the scourge of white male privilege in Hollywood. In an era when men are almost 12 times more likely to direct movies than women, and minorities continue to lose ground as directors (according to the 2017 Hollywood Diversity Report), he landed the coveted Jurassic job on the strength of a single film, the quirky 2012 Sundance sci-fi dramedy Safety Not Guaranteed.

This evolved into such an inescapable talking point, Trevorrow even admitted to the Los Angeles Times, “[It] hurts my feelings when I’m used as an example of white male privilege.”

Still, the decision to bounce him from the project ultimately fell to Kennedy, who, five years into her Lucasfilm tenure, is showing less and less compunction about firing or replacing directors she feels are temperamentally or creatively unsuited to the job, having also overseen the resignation of Fantastic Four director Josh Trank from another stand-alone Star Wars film in 2015.

“There’s one gatekeeper when it comes to Star Wars and it’s Kathleen Kennedy,” says a veteran movie producer, who has worked with the studio chief. “If you rub Kathleen Kennedy the wrong way — in any way — you’re out. You’re done. A lot of these young, new directors want to come in and say, ‘I want to do this. I want to do that.’ A lot of these guys — Lord and Miller, Colin Trevorrow — got very rich, very fast and believed a lot of their own hype. And they don’t want to play by the rules. They want to do shit differently. And Kathleen Kennedy isn’t going to fuck around with that.

Re: Star Wars

For director Rian Johnson, Star Wars: The Last Jedi was just the beginning of his journey in a galaxy far, far away.

Lucasfilm is excited to announce that Johnson will create a brand-new Star Wars trilogy, the first of which he is also set to write and direct, with longtime collaborator Ram Bergman onboard to produce.

As writer-director of The Last Jedi, Johnson conceived and realized a powerful film of which Lucasfilm and Disney are immensely proud. In shepherding this new trilogy, which is separate from the episodic Skywalker saga, Johnson will introduce new characters from a corner of the galaxy that Star Wars lore has never before explored.

“We all loved working with Rian on The Last Jedi,” said Kathleen Kennedy, president of Lucasfilm. “He’s a creative force, and watching him craft The Last Jedi from start to finish was one of the great joys of my career. Rian will do amazing things with the blank canvas of this new trilogy.”

“We had the time of our lives collaborating with Lucasfilm and Disney on The Last Jedi,” Johnson and Bergman said in a joint statement. “Star Wars is the greatest modern mythology and we feel very lucky to have contributed to it. We can’t wait to continue with this new series of films.”

Johnson’s upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi arrives in U.S. theaters on Dec. 15, 2017.

No release dates have been set for the new films, and no porgs were available for comment.

Re: Star Wars

In shepherding this new trilogy, which is separate from the episodic Skywalker saga...

Just as I speculated, Disney is shaking off any rights George Lucas may be holding on to. But they have to do it gradually. First they’re flushing the Sith and the Jedi name with these new films, and then after that the new trilogy will be flushing the Skywalker name as well. It couldn’t be clearer.

Re: Star Wars

Originally Posted by Razor

Just as I speculated, Disney is shaking off any rights George Lucas may be holding on to. But they have to do it gradually. First they’re flushing the Sith and the Jedi name with these new films, and then after that the new trilogy will be flushing the Skywalker name as well. It couldn’t be clearer.

They're not exactly flushing out the name Jedi. The new movie will be called Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
The Sith may be gone, but the Jedi remain.